


Reunion

by madartiste



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: AU, F/M, Ficlet, Mention of previous amputation, Renegade!Anna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 02:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14298570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madartiste/pseuds/madartiste
Summary: Anna manages to survive the attack by the Desians, but she isn't the sort to leave the fighting up to someone else.  Now all she has to do is collect her wayward husband.





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a really awesome piece of art by @BravelyGail on Twitter: <https://twitter.com/BravelyGail/status/983901965846499328>  
> Go check it out! 
> 
> _I saw that, and this little scene immediately sprung to life. I'm convinced Anna was one tough cookie, and the thought of her surviving as a Renegade is just too great. She insists on tracking down Kratos, which takes longer than she'd like, and of course he naturally overreacts when faced with a surprise squad of Renegades. And yes, Kratos is just a bit dramatic because, let's face it, Mr. 'Blame-your-fate' kinda canonically is. Good for him his wife is the strong one in the relationship. Botta also gets a little bit of screen time since that guy really deserves it after all he put up with. Apologies if this is a little rough. I wrote it faster than I normally do._

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The unexpected voice froze Kratos as he was about to cut down one of the Renegades in front of him.  It was a voice he knew all too well, one associated with his greatest joys -- and his bleakest moment.

He turned slowly and gaped at the figure with her hands on her hips and a disappointed scowl he could recognize even under the obscuring helm. "A-anna?"  It didn't seem possible.  He had to be hallucinating.  She reached toward him with a left hand he belatedly realized was a mechanical prosthetic, and he held his breath.

"Ow!" Kratos cried when she grabbed his ear and pulled his head until it was level with her own.  It was a move she always used when he was being obstinate, and she really needed his focus.  This was definitely his wife.

Anna shoved her helmet up to see better and gave him a familiar glare.  "I can't believe you would be so stupid as to go back there!  After everything we went through, you'd actually crawl on your hands and knees and ask that little jerk to forgive you when you didn't do anything wrong?"

"I thought you were dead," he accused, still wallowing in his shock.  "I thought I'd lost everything.  Wait… If you're here… Lloyd--"  The crooked smile that transformed her face ignited the dormant hope in him like a supernova.

"He's safe.  Missing his daddy something terrible, but Dirk takes great care of him while I'm away kicking butt."

Suddenly he could breathe again, like her words loosened the chains of guilt that had been suffocating him since that horrible day more than a year ago.  Warmth spread out from his center and thawed the chilling numbness he'd been relying on to keep him from feeling.  "Who is Dirk?"  He started to wonder just how much he'd missed in his self-imposed exile.

"He's the dwarf who found Lloyd and saved him from the monsters.  He saved Noishe too."

"Even Noishe is…!"  This was too much, more than someone like him deserved.  To be given a miracle of this magnitude…

Without the ever-present pain filling his chest Kratos at long last caved in.  He started to shake, curling slowly in on himself and pressing the heels of his hands against eyes that burned with unshed relief.  The anger, grief, and even happiness he'd walled off to protect himself since losing his family we're overwhelming as they flooded out all at once.

Anna grimaced.  She really wasn't prepared to deal with a breakdown from someone as normally rational and steady as her husband.  "Hey, c'mon now.  Everyone is okay.  There's no need for that."

He just shook his head, taking a few shuffling steps forward so he could wrap his arms around the woman he loved with all his heart.  "I missed you," he whispered, and she snorted in amusement.

"You're going with that after all this time?" Anna teased, rubbing his back in comforting circles.  "I missed you too, you goof.  Though, you'd better apologize to these guys for beating them up."  Kratos glanced over his shoulder at the Renegades who were nervously watching them, and his wife give him a further nudge when he stayed silent a bit too long.  "You owe them," she said.  "Especially that guy there."

Botta tried not to fidget under the stare of the Cruxis seraph when Anna pointed directly at him.

"He's the one who immediately insisted on searching for any trace of Lloyd when Yuan had me brought in," she continued.  "He kept going for three days straight until he came across Dirk and Lloyd.  We might never have found them otherwise."

"I see.  In that case, I truly owe you a debt I can never repay," Kratos told him sincerely.  "Thank you."

"You're… uh… welcome," Botta replied.  He wasn't the sort to be easily rattled, but Lord Yuan hadn't been kidding when he'd said his old friend was intense in just about everything he did, even apologizing.

Nudging Kratos again for his attention, Anna grinned up at him.  "So, you coming back with us or what?"

He hesitated, not because there was any question that he would, but because he was once more struck by just how magnificent this woman was.  Even at the cost of her arm and nearly her life, Anna Irving was fighting with everything she had to make the worlds better for everyone.  She always made him feel weak in comparison.  "That uniform suits you," he said.

"It sure does!" Anna agreed, spreading out her arms to show off the armor.  Then she winked saucily at him as she grabbed his hand.  "And you're gonna look great in one too."

**Author's Note:**

> _Pretty sure if the whole Irving family was together Mithos would've been taken care of a lot sooner. Lloyd and Colette and everyone get to grow up in a united, peaceful world without having to deal with all the old people's leftover shenanigans. Also Kratos wouldn't have left with Derris-Kharlan because Anna definitely would've broken his knee caps if he tried to abandon his son._


End file.
